CBI arrests Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai for taking bribe

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Medical Council of India (MCI) President Ketan Desai, along with three others, in connection with a bribe of Rs 2 crore for granting recognition to a new medical college in Punjab.

The others arrested included an alleged middleman, identified by sources as Jitender Pal Singh of Delhi, and two officials of the Patiala-based medical college, including its vice-chairman.

The CBI said in a press release that the four men, who were arrested here late last night, were produced today before the designated court in Delhi, which remanded them to the custody of the agency for five days. Further investigations were in progress, it said.

According to the release, the CBI had received reliable information to the effect that Dr Desai had entered into a conspiracy with the middleman and the officialsof the Patiala medical colelge for granting permission to start admission of students from the academic year 2010-11 to different courses at the college without having complied with objections pointed out earlier by the inspection committee.

The release said Dr Desai had agreed to do this "in lieu of a heavy monetary consideration" and the CBI had registered a case yesterday.

Dr Desai is currently the Head and Professor of the Urology Department of B J Medical College (BJMC), Ahmedabad. He is also the president-elect of the World Medical Association.

The Medical College and Hospital had earlier applied for permission for admission of students for the academic session 2010-11. The executive committee of the MCI, at its meeting on February 5 this year under the chairmanship of Dr Desai, had found that the college was lacking in requisite infrastructure. On account of these deficiencies, mentioned in the inspection report, the college was not granted approval and its request was declined.

The CBI press release said that, subsequent to the registration of the case, the agency had laid a trap and arrested the middleman with Rs 2 crore sent to him by the Vice-Chairman of the Medical College for delivery to the MCI President "in lieu of favour shown to the Medical College."

The release said the CBI had conducted searches at various places in Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh and Gujarat and recovered several incriminating documents, cash and other valuable items from the residential as well as official premises of the accused persons.

According to the MCI website, Dr Desai was the youngest ever president of the Gujarat Medical Council, MCI and Indian Medical Association. He also had the distinction of being the youngest-ever dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Gujarat University. Among various prizes and honours, he has won the B C Roy National Award.

Re: CBI arrests Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai for taking bribe

Medical Council of India (MCI) President Ketan Desai was arrested by CBI with his associates on April 22. Dr Ketan Desai who has been the centre of a range of allegations regarding corruption and manipulation from couple of years has been finally arrested by CBI under corruption charges and for misusing of regulatory power.

According to the report, being a president of MCI, Desai misused his regulatory power to earn money and to gain support from politicians of different parties who own and run different medical colleges.

The main functions of the MCI, set up under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1933 were to ensure uniform standards in medical education and grant recognition to medical degrees awarded in India and abroad. Even medical colleges across the country require MCIís permission to increase the number of seats, to set up new medical college, to add new courses and also to increase student intake.

Here the allegations against Ketan Desai acquire importance because in the past 15 years there has been a sudden increase in number of private medical colleges. Across the country out of 290 medical colleges 160 are run by the private sector. Each seat in private medical colleges costs from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 75 lakh and obviously MCIís support is must for the smooth functioning of these private colleges.

On February 18 and 20, 2000 the Income Tax Department raided the business and residential premises of Ketan Desai and bank drafts for Rs 65 lakhs were found. The Delhi High Court found him guilty of taking bribes and abusing power and also ordered CBI for further enquiry in the matter. But in 2005, CBI gave him a clean chit saying that it was goodwill money.

On June 20, 2001 Desai was re-elected in the MCI presidential election to head the prestigious body for the second time, in which he got 69 out of 73 votes. The election itself became an issue considering the majority of votes he received. He was also the chairman of the Indian Medical Association (IMA). While operating through IMA he entered the executive council of the World Medical Association (WMA) and got himself elected as its president. The CBI also raided the IMA House at ITO in which one full floor was occupied by Dr Desai.

As president of MCI, Dr Desai was a single authority for granting approvals and to carry out inspections of colleges. Many times the inspection reports of medical colleges were also changed according to Desaiís demand. Even the inspections were carried out by council inspectors appointed by him.

Re: CBI arrests Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai for taking bribe

Quote:

Originally Posted by tantric_yogi

75 Lac bribe to get into a medical collage ... in a country as dirt poor as India! Unbelievable! Why do we hesitate to call it one of the world's most corrupt countries?

75Lacs+++ = US$ 200,000.

read the article in one of the Telugu papers, when IT raided him it seems they found 1800 crores worth of investments and 1500 kg gold in his hose. They say some big fish(central cabinet ministers) are also involved.

__________________
An oft quoted Gandhian phrase is that if all were to follow an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, then the world would go blind. The counter to that is that if only some follow this and others don't then it is the non-violent who would go blind while the rogues will rule the world.

Re: CBI arrests Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai for taking bribe

Quote:

Originally Posted by BABU_HYDERABADI

read the article in one of the Telugu papers, when IT raided him it seems they found 1800 crores worth of investments and 1500 kg gold in his hose. They say some big fish(central cabinet ministers) are also involved.

__________________I am here because I am nowhere else. But, am I there where I wanted to be?

Re: CBI arrests Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai for taking bribe

In 1999, a friend of mine paid Rs. 9 lakh donation to get his brother admision in BDS (Dentistry). The fellow had scored only 52% in 12th. So if the going rate for MBBS is 25lakhs now, I won't be surprised. I don't know about 75 lakhs though.

Still, why one needs to pay this much just to get admission, I don't know, when there are cheaper and more attractive options, like this :

Quote:

Medical body secy is a quack
Dinesh C. Sharma
New Delhi, May 1, 2010

If you thought quacks operate only in slum areas of Delhi, you are in for a surprise. They are active in south Delhi localities as well and have even risen to top rungs of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), a professional body of doctors.

The arrest of 'Doctor' Jitendra Kumar Sharma has sent shockwaves across the medical fraternity as he was a secretary and member of the executive committee of the IMA's New Delhi branch.

Sharma - arrested by the Delhi Police on April 20 after the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) lodged a complaint against him - will be produced in court on Saturday for hearing of his bail application.

Sharma was not only posing as a specialist physician, he had also managed to get himself elected to one of IMA's top posts for the years 2009-10 and 2010-11. The post of secretary in New Delhi branch of IMA is keenly contested and Sharma is perhaps the only quack in the country to have climbed the ladder this high.

At the time of his arrest, Sharma was working as a consulting physician in the Mirpur Dispensary at Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi and was a visiting physician in other charitable clinics.

He was also elected to the executive committee of the Delhi Medical Association (DMA) from the New Delhi constituency, rubbing shoulders with high profile doctors such as Dr K. K. Agarwal, who was elected from the same constituency. So brazen was his fraud that a day before his arrest, the quack attended a medical conference at a five-star hotel organised by the Delhi Diabetic Forum, of which he is a joint secretary.

"If a quack can hoodwink the medical fraternity, imagine the fate of ordinary people," said Dr Girish Tyagi, secretary, DMC. The IMA is a powerful body of Indian doctors and is represented in medical regulatory bodies, including the Medical Council of India (MCI), top technical advisory panels of the government and the drug controller.

It is a key participant in national health programmes on polio, tuberculosis, HIV, etc.

Sharma's deceit, therefore, assumes enormous significance.

Sharma claimed to possess a string of degrees and fellowships - MBBS, MD (Medicine), Diploma in Sports Medicine, FIMSA, FCGP, FIGSA, etc. His letterhead and stamp describe him as 'senior consultant physician, cardiodiabetologist'and 'authorised medical attendant of Madhya Pradesh Bhawan at New Delhi'. The MP government has since terminated his services after the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) initiated enquiries about him.

He has been booked for forgery and other offences under Sections 420, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code, and under the Delhi Medical Council Act, 1977.

"We suspect that he is not even a graduate," Tyagi said.

Sharma's fraud came under the scanner for the first time in October last year during the city medical council elections. One candidate, Dr K. K. Agarwal, wanted to make Sharma his election observer. All candidates and observers were to be issued photo identity cards with their DMC registration numbers printed on them. But Sharma could not provide his, and informed Tyagi that he was registered with the Orissa Council of Medical Registration (OCMR).

Suspecting foul play, the council began investigating and asked Sharma to furnish his OCMR registration certificate. The certificate he produced mentioned that he had an MBBS degree from Behrampur University. When verified it was found to be forged; the number on the certificate belonged to someone else.

Besides forgery of certificates, Sharma took advantage of a legal loophole. It is mandatory for anyone to practices allopathic medicine in Delhi to get a licence from the DMC. However, MCI rules say those registered with the MCI or any other state medical council can practise anywhere in the country.

The IMA membership rules mandate medical council registration as a precondition, but it is often overlooked at the time of elections when members are recruited by prospective candidates.

This is how quacks gain entry into the IMA and gain respectability in the community.

A few years back, Gajender Bhati became an executive committee member of IMA's East Delhi branch and Vipul Tuteja attained a similar position in Delhi North branch.

"We are shocked," said Dr Narender Saini, president, DMA. "I have written to all branches in Delhi to launch a membership verification drive.

"Interestingly, Sharma began his 'career' in Delhi as a doctorturned-health reporter sometime in 2003. "I remember the first time he came to our press conferences posing as the health correspondent of a local newspaper," said Dr Anil Bansal, convener of IMA's antiquackery cell in DMA and a past president of the DMA. "If the fraud was not detected, he could perhaps have become IMA president one day," Bansal said.

Meanwhile, DMC said it would oppose Sharma's bail plea. The medical council's counsel Praveen Khattar said: "He is a threat to society. Imagine the harm he has done to scores of patients till now."

__________________Nietzsche (1887) : God is deadGod (1900) : Nietzsche is dead -----------------------------------------
I will not be hurried and I will not be bullied

Re: CBI arrests Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai for taking bribe

Fukkin whole system is corrupt.

How can they allow one person as a sole authority for college approval???

This basterd Desai is a big time corrupt and powerful SOB. I guarantee he will get away this time too. He got away 2-3 times in the past. Not only that, he swiftly wiped out those who raised voices against him.

Same shit goes for all different "Authorities".

These basterds run them like Baap kee jaagir. Heads of different sports authorities have glued their asses on the chairman's seat for years.

Re: CBI arrests Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai for taking bribe

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmthaLal

Fukkin whole system is corrupt.

How can they allow one person as a sole authority for college approval???

This basterd Desai is a big time corrupt and powerful SOB. I guarantee he will get away this time too. He got away 2-3 times in the past. Not only that, he swiftly wiped out those who raised voices against him.

Same shit goes for all different "Authorities".

These basterds run them like Baap kee jaagir. Heads of different sports authorities have glued their asses on the chairman's seat for years.

You are forgetting something. No government or semi government committee or organisation is run by one man alone. The man who is at the top of the ladder gets the lion's share and he is SUPPOSED to distribute his earnings to the underlings.

Only when some underlings or the higher ups who placed this man at the top dont get their cut, do you see such arrests and investigations.

Re: CBI arrests Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai for taking bribe

Quote:

Originally Posted by BABU_HYDERABADI

read the article in one of the Telugu papers, when IT raided him it seems they found 1800 crores worth of investments and 1500 kg gold in his hose. They say some big fish(central cabinet ministers) are also involved.

Gapplebazis used to be in lacs. Now hundreds of crores have become a norm. Please google for Doctor+Patel+Queensland+Australia. Doctor Devil is more like it.

I don't believe Indian doctors learn much in medical colleges. All their experiences are direct result of working in Indian hospitals. A great majority of doctors in India will be bankrupt if patients were to sue them for malpractices. You must wonder at number of patients dying daily in Indian hospital due direct result of incompetence of the doctors. ONLY IN INDIA!

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmthaLal

Fukkin whole system is corrupt. How can they allow one person as a sole authority for college approval???

This basterd Desai is a big time corrupt and powerful SOB. I guarantee he will get away this time too. He got away 2-3 times in the past. Not only that, he swiftly wiped out those who raised voices against him.

Same shit goes for all different "Authorities".

These basterds run them like Baap kee jaagir. Heads of different sports authorities have glued their asses on the chairman's seat for years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by echarcha

You are forgetting something. No government or semi government committee or organisation is run by one man alone. The man who is at the top of the ladder gets the lion's share and he is SUPPOSED to distribute his earnings to the underlings.

Only when some underlings or the higher ups who placed this man at the top dont get their cut, do you see such arrests and investigations.

Sutradarji ... are you on prozac or something? Your blood doesn't boil no more? Please read Amthabhai's post for what will be considered a normal reaction. Are you all right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by raniraja

paid Rs. 9 lakh donation to get his brother admision in BDS The fellow had scored only 52% in 12th.

52% is a lot if your take into consideration our own Doctor Sahib. Wonder how much he paid?

Re: CBI arrests Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai for taking bribe

Quote:

Originally Posted by raniraja

In 1999, a friend of mine paid Rs. 9 lakh donation to get his brother admision in BDS (Dentistry). The fellow had scored only 52% in 12th. So if the going rate for MBBS is 25lakhs now, I won't be surprised. I don't know about 75 lakhs though.

Re: CBI arrests Medical Council of India president Ketan Desai for taking bribe

Quote:

Originally Posted by raniraja

In 1999, a friend of mine paid Rs. 9 lakh donation to get his brother admision in BDS (Dentistry). The fellow had scored only 52% in 12th. So if the going rate for MBBS is 25lakhs now, I won't be surprised. I don't know about 75 lakhs though.

Still, why one needs to pay this much just to get admission, I don't know, when there are cheaper and more attractive options, like this :

damn.. 25 lacs is discounted price for reservation SC/STs...for open category candidates it is 50 lacs, tereko chahiye to bol....